A household appliance, such as a front-loading clothes washer, includes a housing supported by a structure, such as a floor. A door provides access to a washing unit in the interior of the appliance housing. The washing unit includes a tub having a cylindrical washing drum rotatably mounted inside the tub. In operation, clothes or laundry are inserted into the washer through the door and placed in the rotating washing drum inside the tub. The household appliance wets the laundry to be washed with washing liquid and mechanically moves the laundry to release contaminants from the laundry. A drive system rotates the washing drum inside the tub about an axis of the drum. The washer can remove dirt from laundry with washing, rinsing, and spinning cycles using detergent and water. The washer commonly includes a drain pump for pumping out washing or rinsing liquid from the tub to an exterior (e.g., an external drain facility), and a drain hose that connects the drain pump and the external drain facility, such as a drain pipe, for discharging the washing or rinsing liquid pumped by the drain pump to the exterior.
In the past, conventional drain hose assemblies commonly have included two individual drain hoses, one plastic connector, and two hose clamps. These conventional systems commonly require pre-assembly of an internal (first) drain hose to a first side of a plastic connector with a first metal clamp. The plastic connector can be attached to or extend through the rear panel of the washer. An external (second) drain hose is attached to the other side (second or external side) of the plastic connector with a second metal clamp. The installation of such a conventional drain hose assembly can be burdensome, time consuming, and costly.
Recently, a longer, continuous one-piece drain hose has been provided to reduce the total number of components and fittings in the draining system, instead of providing two, smaller drain hoses coupled to a plastic connector. The continuous one-piece drain hose is extended through an opening or cutout in the rear panel of the washer such that one end of the drain hose can be connected to an external drain facility and another end of the drain hose can be connected to the drain pump within the appliance.
In some appliances, the drain pump may be located in the rear lower portion of the appliance and close to the opening or cutout in the rear of the appliance. In other appliances, the drain pump may be located in the front lower portion of the appliance to facilitate easy access to the drain pump for maintenance or removal/replacement. In these cases, the drain hose commonly will be fed or inserted through an opening or cutout in the rear panel of the appliance (e.g., at an upper portion of the rear panel), and then along the interior of the side panel of the appliance to the drain pump in the front lower portion of the appliance. The internal clearance within the housing of the washer for routing the drain hose may be limited or restricted depending on the particular arrangement of the drain pump, drain hose, and other components of the washer. Thus, one or more portions of the drain hose commonly must be bent by, for example, 90˜180 degrees from its original straight shape. Additionally, the packaging materials used to protect and ship the washer from the manufacturer to the customer may provide limited or restricted clearance on the outside of the washer housing for routing the portion of the drain hose that extends from the rear panel of the washer housing. Thus, another portion of the drain hose that is outside of the housing of the washer commonly must be bent in an arch shape by, for example, 90˜180 degrees from its original straight shape in order to avoid interference with the packing materials used to protect and transport the washer from the manufacturer to the customer. In order to facilitate the bending of the drain hose, the conventional continuous drain hose commonly is formed from a corrugated plastic hose pattern having a wave pattern or a spiral pattern that may be formed by casting or molding.